Daily News Digest for 10/26/2007

Last week, when the House considered a similar bill vetoed by Mr. Bush, supporters fell 13 votes short of the number needed to override. The roll calls are not directly comparable because several lawmakers were absent on Thursday, many of them helping constituents cope with the California wildfires. Speaker Nancy Pelosi said the latest vote was “a step forward” toward the goal of insuring millions of children from low-income families. But the gains were not immediately evident in the roll call. Of the Republicans who voted against the bill last week, none voted for the new version. And one Republican who supported the old bill, Representative Vernon J. Ehlers of Michigan, voted against the new one, citing concerns that the measure had been brought up on short notice, without enough input from Republicans. Senate Democrats said they expected to take up the new bill and pass it next week. The House majority leader, Representative Steny H. Hoyer, Democrat of Maryland, said it was at least conceivable that the bill could be amended in the Senate, to meet some Republican concerns. If some version of the new bill is approved by Congress and vetoed by Mr. Bush, and if the House again sustains his veto, Democrats said they might extend the existing children’s insurance program through next summer. They could then schedule a vote on the issue in September or October, in hopes of inflicting maximum political damage on Republicans just before the 2008 elections.

Judge Michael Mukasey's nomination for attorney general ran into trouble Thursday when two top Senate Democrats said their votes hinge on whether he will say on the record that an interrogation technique that simulates drowning is torture. "It's fair to say my vote would depend on him answering that question," Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Patrick J. Leahy (D-Vt.) told reporters late Thursday. "This to me is the seminal issue," said Assistant Majority Leader Richard J. Durbin (D-Ill.), who is on Leahy's panel. Asked if his vote depends on whether Mukasey equates waterboarding with torture, Durbin answered: "It does." Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) said his support could be in doubt over the same issue. "I think if he doesn't change his direction in that regard, he could have at least one concern, and that's me," Reid told reporters. Leahy has refused to set a date for a vote on Mukasey's nomination until he clarifies his answer to the torture question.

Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice expressed regret yesterday that the State Department had inadequately supervised private security contractors in Iraq, but she defended overall U.S. diplomatic efforts in that country under what she called "complex and difficult" circumstances. During nearly three hours of contentious exchanges with Democrats on the House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform, Rice parried and often ducked questions on contractors, Iraqi government corruption and problems in the construction of a $600 million U.S. Embassy in Baghdad. She repeatedly said she needed to review matters more closely or could not answer in an open congressional session. Several lawmakers questioned whether Rice was even aware of some of the most serious allegations. "You're the secretary of state!" Chairman Henry A. Waxman (D-Calif.) said incredulously after Rice responded to a specific charge against Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki by saying she is "not personally following every allegation of corruption in Iraq."

House Republicans pressed the Bush administration's top North Korea negotiator Thursday to explain a reported Israeli airstrike last month on a Syrian nuclear facility under construction, indicating growing congressional concern over the incident. At a Capitol Hill hearing, Republicans on the House Foreign Affairs Committee accused the administration of improperly withholding details of the Sept. 6. bombing raid, saying they needed to know of any evidence that North Korea was involved in spreading nuclear technology to Syria. Evidence of North Korean involvement in a Syrian program would be grounds to void a pending nuclear deal with North Korea, some said.

When Gov. Bill Ritter announces his new climate change action plan next month, environmental groups expect him to say Colorado should think locally about global warming. But you can’t think locally about a global issue without devastating local economies, industry groups and Club 20 are saying, urging Ritter to go easy on the energy industry. Ritter said Oct. 13 that he will unveil a plan next month that will rely on the Legislature to enact new policies aimed at reducing Colorado’s influence on climate change. He declined to comment about what his plan will entail or what legislation he might push to address global warming. But a coalition of environmental groups, including the Colorado Environmental Coalition and the Colorado Climate Action Network, say they have asked Ritter to adopt a five-point plan that will aim to reduce the state’s greenhouse gas emissions to 80 percent below current levels by 2050.

Almost a year after Bob Beauprez lost the governor's race, one of the more controversial remnants of his campaign bubbled to the surface Thursday morning. A federal immigration agent in Denver was charged by the U.S Attorney's office in Wyoming for allegedly leaking information from a national crime database to Beauprez for attack ads against his opponent. Beauprez, the Republican candidate, ran ads accusing Democrat Bill Ritter of giving plea bargains on drug-dealing charges to illegal immigrants when Ritter was Denver district attorney. Key information for those ads came from the National Crime Information Center database, which is supposed to be used only for law enforcement purposes. U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement agent Cory Voorhis was charged with three counts of exceeding his authorized access to a government computer, according to a statement issued by acting Wyoming U.S. Attorney John Green.

Sen. Ken Salazar played a key role in the confirmation this week of a federal appeals court judge accused of racial insensitivity by many Democrats and civil rights groups, according to press reports. Salazar was one of a handful of Senate Democrats supporting to end debate and move to a vote on the nomination of Judge Leslie Southwick to sit on the United States Court of Appeals for the 5th Circuit, which covers Louisiana, Texas and Mississippi. Salazar eventually voted against Southwick’s confirmation, but he was one of only three Democrats who agreed to invoke cloture, a procedure that blocks a filibuster, before voting "no" on the judge's approval to the bench. "The final vote to confirm would not have happened without the initial 'yes' votes from Sens. Tom Carper of Delaware, Daniel Inouye of Hawaii and (Salazar), on the test tally that asked whether to end debate. Support from the three pushed the tally past the 60-vote threshold to advance Southwick to a confirmation vote," the Associated Press reported. Southwick was confirmed 59-38 after the move to cut off debate. Opponents of the judge pointed to his rulings on the state appeals court in Mississippi, including a 1988 decision upholding the reinstatement of a social worker who used a racial slur, as proof of his bias.

Colorado Supreme Court Justice Gregory Hobbs isn't convinced new ethics rules prevent lawmakers from freely meeting with lobbyists over coffee or bar college professors from accepting Nobel Prize money. But Chief Justice Mary Mullarkey wonders why the authors of Amendment 41 went to great lengths to explain what constitutes a gift under the ban if the measure isn't too broad. The rules are part of a constitutional amendment approved by voters last November. They ban lobbyists from buying meals or gifts worth more than $50 for state lawmakers. They also ban gifts worth more than $50 to state employees or their families. The justices Thursday heard arguments in Colorado Attorney General John Suthers' appeal seeking dismissal of a district judge's injunction that bars the state from enforcing the rules while opponents sue to have them declared unconstitutional. The six justices hearing the case seemed evenly divided on whether the rules violate lawmakers' and government workers' constitutional rights to accept gifts and freely associate. "I'm having trouble seeing where does it ban a lobbyist from handing a flier to a legislator," said Hobbs. "I don't see how on the face of it how holding a buffet for lawmakers is breach of trust by legislators if they're simply trying to gain information."

Not only can ghosts and ghouls dance under the same dark sky as the Druids did, but there is also no attempt in this city to hobble Halloweeners with limited trick-or-treating hours. Apparently, we’re open to letting the little monsters learn what it means to ring a doorbell when the porch light is out. Neither is the case in a motley collection of Midwest cities. The reactionaries of Racine, Wis., for example, have decided kids can go trick-or-treating only on Sunday from 4 to 6 p.m. The pursed-lip dowagers of Plymouth, (that figures) Wis., have gone one better: Kids in that town can extort candy only from 3 to 5 p.m. on Sunday. Geez, why not just burn the little witches at the stake? Then there’s those contrarians in the Show-Me State. The Town Council of Cardwell, Mo., recently decided to join surrounding towns in celebrating Halloween on Oct. 30, apparently because Wednesday is a church night.

Denver has won a $1.5 million grant that will enable police and prosecutors to expand their efforts at solving cold cases with DNA evidence. The funds from the National Institute of Justice will add another 18 months to a project that already has led to arrests in unsolved homicides and jailed suspects believed to be responsible for a high volume of burglaries. "(Denver) is the only city in the United States that has been approved to do this work," District Attorney Mitch Morrissey said at a meeting with Mayor John Hickenlooper and City Council members on Monday. "We've had great success with the work we've done so far. There still are cases . . . that need to be worked on."

The emblem of Weld District Court -- the drafty old building on 9th Street with ornate architecture and marble accents -- belies the 21st-century changes taking place in the system. District Judge Marcelo Kopcow, Combined Courts Clerk Cathi Walker and their staffs now use an electronic, paperless system for filing documents. Everything from arrest affidavits to warrants to motions from 2006 forward are now scanned into a central system, called Filebound. They say Weld District Court is one of the first, if not the first, districts to go paperless. And other judges around the state are taking notice of the system. Several chief judges from neighboring districts and a justice from the Colorado Supreme Court will soon visit Kopcow to learn how Filebound works and hopefully use it in their own courtrooms.

Promote justice, eat jam. That’s the rallying cry of a local nonprofit organization that’s promoting an alternative approach to crime and punishment called restorative justice. Restore/Rocky Mountain Restorative Justice is holding a sort of ongoing bake sale to raise funds. Kim Wille, the organization’s executive director, harvested copious amounts of fruit from trees in the midvalley this fall and turned them into 30 varieties of jams and jellies. She estimated she’s filled 600 pint and half-pint jars and has enough fruit stockpiled to create inventory that will last into next year. She has made straightforward flavors like peach jam and apple jelly. There are wild combinations like jalapeno, apple and mint, and apricot ginger jam. Some of Wille’s concoctions reflect the areas where she harvested the fruit. The Floyd Pear Pepper Jelly used pears from Floyd Street in the El Jebel Mobile Home Park. Floyd Crawford, the late founder of modern El Jebel, planted numerous fruit trees throughout the area.

Five Colorado farm and ranch offices may remain open, thanks to an amendment pushed by Sen. Ken Salazar, D-Colo. The amendment, a part of the proposed federal 2007 farm bill, would keep open U.S. Department of Agriculture Farm Service Agency offices in El Paso, Bent, Larimer, Conejos and Rio Grande counties for at least five more years, Salazar said Thursday. The FSA offices provide financial aid for farms and ranches with crop subsidies, emergency loans and more. The USDA wants to close the offices to use its staff more efficiently and save money - about $150,000 per year, officials said. But these offices are vital to Colorado's small towns, Salazar said.

Janus CEO Gary Black, seeking to reassure Wall Street, said Thursday that the company has a deep bench, allowing it to absorb the loss of more than a dozen fund managers since early 2006. Black told analysts Janus has altered the way it pays portfolio managers, which could cut compensation for some, and has changed its approach so more funds will be managed by teams instead of individuals. Janus has announced the departures of two stars in the past couple of months. The company said last week Janus Fund manager David Corkins has resigned and revealed in August that Janus Twenty skipper Scott Schoelzel is leaving at the end of the year. A number of others left before them, along with a few of the company's top executives. "We don't like losing any of our key talent, whether it be from the investment team or the executive team," Black said, according to a transcript. "But we work really hard to create a culture where our top talent can thrive and can be compensated at the top of the industry, if they perform well." As for additional exits? "It's hard to tell," Black said.

In the end, the Colorado State Fair governing board said it was hung out to dry. In order to compete at this year's summer expo, the board made it mandatory for livestock participants to register their animals' premise identification, or the property on which it was raised, with the National Animal Identification System. Premise ID has become a hot topic of debate in agriculture and politics.

The USDA's Farm Service Agency office in Larimer County will remain open. U.S. Sen. Ken Salazar, D-Colo., said an amendment passed Wednesday will keep all FSA offices in Colorado open for at least the next five years. In a consolation action, the USDA had proposed to close the offices in Bent, Larimer, Rio Grande, Conejos and El Paso counties. The closure of the Larimer office drew sharp criticism from farmers in Larimer and Weld counties, as the proposal would have consolidated Larimer with Weld. Farmers said the Weld office is understaffed and unable to process work in a timely manner and a consolation would have heightened that problem.

Joy Yoder has been working more than 60 hours a week this month, thanks to the Colorado Rockies' magical ride to the World Series. But she doesn't seem to mind. "This is the good stuff. I love baseball," said the Qwest customer-data technician who has headed the company's account at Coors Field for 11 years. "On game day, I need to be here six to seven hours early. Being able to watch the game means that all has gone well." Since the Rockies have been thrust into the national and international spotlight, Qwest technicians have been working feverishly to upgrade data capacity before Saturday's first home game of the Series.

The 42-count grand jury indictment of prominent Fort Collins businessman Gene Little is the latest blow in his legal troubles, coming a few months after he was ordered to repay a former client nearly $500,000. Little, who is free on bond, appeared in court Thursday morning to have a taxpayer-funded public defender appointed. The man who once promised investors returns of 20, 30 and even 60 percent says he no longer can afford to hire his own lawyer.

Two men who allegedly bilked investors from Israel, Canada and the United States of $7 million in a Ponzi scheme have been indicted on several fraud counts in Jefferson County, officials say. Hidai Friedman, 32, was indicted on five counts of securities fraud and one count of theft of more than $15,000. Jason Sharkey, 30, was indicted on four counts of securities fraud and one count of theft of more than $15,000, said Pam Russell, spokeswoman for the Jefferson County District Attorney's Office.

Mesa State College stands to lose two of its trustees — including Colorado Rockies owner Charlie Monfort, who spearheaded a family donation of $500,000 to the college — under legislation requiring that no political party have an overwhelming advantage on college boards. The terms of Monfort and Steve Meyer, president and majority owner of Grand Junction-based Shaw Construction, are to expire this year. Both would have to leave the board because of the requirements controlling the political composition of boards. The change was intended to give one political party no more than a single vote over the other. The measure, offered by Sen. Sue Windels, D-Arvada, and signed by Republican Gov. Bill Owens, was a “dumb bill,” said Mesa State Trustee Mike Feeley, a Democrat and former minority leader of the state Senate. “I was probably on the Mesa State board for a year before I knew anyone’s political affiliation,” Feeley said. “The board is completely nonpartisan.” Feeley is the only Democrat on the board.

Colorado State University's College of Business will receive $400,000 of grants from the Bohemian Foundation to support the college's new master's program in sustainable enterprise. The 18-month master's program teaches students to use entrepreneurial approaches to address such global problems as poverty, environmental damage and poor health. The first students enrolled in the program this fall.

An envious punter bent on revenge. Gang violence - real or imagined - encircling the campus. A winless football team. The stench from nearby beef-rendering plants. These and other factors - including some of the lowest-paid faculty in the country - contribute to an image problem afflicting the University of Northern Colorado, say students, faculty and school officials. But maybe the biggest problem UNC faces is near anonymity among residents and prospective students throughout the state. "You hear about CU and CSU (University of Colorado and Colorado State University) all the time," said UNC student-body president Rico Wint. "But with UNC, it's almost an afterthought." All of which may have contributed to a slide in fall enrollment while CU and CSU enjoyed increases.

The CU Student Union is on track to have the highest fall-election voter turnout in nearly two decades. As of 8:30 a.m. on Thursday morning, 2,079 students had cast a vote in the fall UCSU elections. That number almost grazes last year's final figure of 2,491 votes, with two days of vote-counting ahead. Polls close Friday at 8 p.m.

Morton Elementary School will be closed today after more than 50 students and three teachers became ill Thursday. The school closed early on Thursday. A spokesman for the school district said the cause of the illness, which was marked by vomiting and diarrhea, is unknown. Approximately 56 out of 430 students and three teachers either were absent or left school during the day due to illness, he said. Superintendent John Covington said, “The health and safety of our students and staff comes first. We are working with the Pueblo City-County Health Department and together we are doing our best to address this issue and ensure all of our students and staff are learning and working in healthy schools.”

Central High School Principal Bobby Gonzales on Thursday sent a letter to parents reassuring them that a student at the school posed no danger of spreading a potentially deadly staph infection. It was an effort to quell rumors that circulated after a student with a skin ailment engaged in “inappropriate behavior,” according to district officials. The incident comes on the heels of a national scare spurred by the death earlier this month of a Virginia high school student blamed on methicillin-resistant staphylococcus aureus, known as MRSA. Reports of staph infections have caused some schools across the U.S. to close and others to embark on large-scale cleaning.

A mishap in a chemistry class prompted Denver police and firefighters to rush to a school Thursday morning. Denver Fire Lt. Phil Champagne explained that during a junior chemistry-class experiment, there was a "strong chemical reaction" that resulted in vapors and fumes. Initial reports were of an explosion, and students and staff evacuated the school. The Denver Fire Department responded with a full hazmat team and several units. "We wanted to err on the side of caution," Champagne said. "We realized it was a relatively minor incident."

Six students were treated for minor chemical exposure Thursday after an explosion in a Denver Waldorf School science laboratory, a fire spokesman said. The blast apparently was triggered when someone mixed sodium hydroxide and water in the lab about 9 a.m., the Denver Fire Department said. The students were treated at the scene and released.

A 16-year-old student was arrested Thursday after he allegedly made threats against students at Bennett High School. Bennett School District Superintendent Richard Coleman said the high school, which has 340 students, was under a low-level security watch until 11:45 a.m. Thursday, when the Adams County Sheriff's Office notified the school that the student, who attends a different school, had been arrested at his home. The sheriff's office was notified of the threats Wednesday evening, Coleman said, and spent several hours at the high school Thursday morning interviewing students.

Tough voter-approved limits on gifts to state officials violate free-speech protections and should be thrown out, opponents argued Thursday before the Colorado Supreme Court. The gift ban - known as Amendment 41 - was approved by voters in November 2006, but it was blocked in May by a Denver District Court ruling. The amendment is so flawed that it would require a complete overhaul by the court - a move that is outside the judiciary's responsibility, said Jean Dubofsky, an attorney representing the ban's opponents. "To make it constitutional, you're going to have to substantively rewrite it," Dubofsky said during the hour-long court hearing, "and I don't think that's an appropriate judicial function." Gov. Bill Ritter is appealing a lower court's decision to block Amendment 41, arguing that it should be enforced. Maurice Knaizer, an assistant attorney general representing Ritter, said the ban has not been allowed to take effect so it's impossible to claim it has harmed anybody's free-speech rights. The Supreme Court's decision does not have a deadline for release. Jon Sarche, spokesman for the court, said decisions typically are released about three months after a court hearing.

Colorado will have a hard time supporting current levels of service in critical areas like education, health care and transportation once Referendum C expires in 2010. With budget constraints resulting from constitutional amendments like the Taxpayers Bill of Rights (TABOR), revenues will barely match up to expenses during the coming years, according to Carol Hedges, of the Colorado Fiscal Policy Institute. Even a small blip in the economy could send the state's budget picture into a downward spiral, Hedges said, presenting some of her organization's most recent budget research during a Club 20 meeting in Silverthorne Thursday evening. "We're going to be OK. We're going to be able to tread water for the next few years, but 2007 is going to be as good as it gets," said Laurie Zeller, a researcher with the Bell Policy Center who helped compile the fiscal data. Services still haven't fully recovered from the 2001-2003 recession, Hedges said, explaining that revenues dropped 15 percent in a single year.

Arguments about relocating the Colorado History Museum to Civic Center continue to focus on whether the new museum would "reactivate" the dilapidated and neglected green space in downtown Denver. At a public hearing Wednesday inside the current museum at 13th Avenue and Broadway, former City Council member Susan Barnes-Gelt said she doubted that the alternative of locating the museum in the city's vacant permit center building at West 14th Avenue and Bannock Street would have any impact on reactivating Civic Center. But Carolyn Etter, former manager of the city's Parks and Recreation Department, said the Civic Center location for the museum "is not in the best interest of the city, the state or the historical society." "The proposal ... is billed as a preservation project," she said. "But to alter this historic landmark in such a dramatic manner is not preservation."

The Town of Silverthorne prioritized neighborhood improvements, competitive salaries and street repairs and maintenance in next year’s budget. The Silverthorne Town Council passed the 2008 budget on first reading Wednesday evening. A public hearing is scheduled for Nov. 28 on the budget. The Town is projecting a modest 1.68 percent growth in sales tax from the projected figures in 2007 — $8.58 million — to 2008.

The town of Erie is 968 acres bigger and set to add up to 2,880 homes over the next 15 years. The Erie Board of Trustees this month unanimously approved the Bridge Water Annexation, formerly called Tallgrass, north of the Leon A. Wurl Parkway between Weld County roads 3 and 5. The Bridge Water property, to be developed by Community Development Group, was zoned into 15 acres of estate residential, 142 acres of suburban residential, 219 acres of low-density residential, 465 acres of medium-density residential, 11 acres of community mixed use and 112 acres of agricultural open space. The annexation agreement calls for $60 million in public offsite improvements over the life of the project, which will be completed in three phases over 15 years.

Add Colorado State Senator Bob Bacon's name to the list of Hillary Clinton supporters. Clinton's campaign announced Bacon's endorsement on Thursday. "Hillary Clinton is the kind of strong, experienced leader we need to deliver the change this country demands," Bacon said in a prepared statement. The endorsement came after a rally this week at the Auraria Campus of Metropolitan State College of Denver, where thousands of Clinton supporters gathered. The rally featured live music from Big Head Todd and the Monsters, a Colorado rock group. "I'm honored to have Bob's support as our grassroots support continues to grow across Colorado," Clinton said in a press release. "He will be critical to spreading our message of change throughout the state."

Denver restaurateurs are stocking the bubbly for the bonanza that the 2008 Democratic National Convention is expected to provide. Venues are booking up fast. Real fast. By only its third day of operation this week, LoDo's new Osteria Marco restaurant - operated by the well-known owners of Mizuna and Luca D'Italia - already had booked two parties for convention week. LoDo's Tamayo, with its terrace view of the Pepsi Center, where the Democrats are holding the convention, was booked solid months ago when a single Denver law firm bought out the restaurant from the Saturday the delegates arrive to the following Saturday. The convention runs Aug. 25-28. "Because we had such a huge role in bringing the convention to Denver, I wanted to play a role of being able to host functions," said Willie Shepherd, a partner at Kamlet Shepherd & Reichert and a key member of the Denver committee responsible for hosting the convention. "It's going to be something else." The firm expects to spend $10,000 to $20,000 per day.

The most contentious issue from last year's race for governor resurfaced Thursday when federal authorities charged a veteran immigration agent with unlawfully accessing a government computer to find information later used by Republican Bob Beauprez's campaign. Cory Voorhis, 38, was charged in Denver federal court with three misdemeanor counts of exceeding his authorized access to a government computer by retrieving "criminal histories of various individuals." He was immediately suspended by the immigrations and customs agency. The charge, which records show is rarely filed, pushed the issue of illegal immigration and the rivalry between Beauprez and Democratic Gov. Bill Ritter back onto the front burner. "This just seems like kind of a tragedy. He thought he saw a big injustice and wanted to do something about it," said Beauprez. Neither Beauprez nor his campaign has ever confirmed that Voorhis was the source of information used in a campaign ad against Ritter. Beauprez on Thursday declined to answer that question.

Claxton opposes Lawrence C. Conrads on the ballot this year, in the only contested school board race. She sees the major issues facing Re-1 as funding, obtaining and retaining quality staff, and increasing parental and community involvement in the schools. Thus far, even though the district has experienced large funding cuts, Claxton has been impressed with its ability to cope.

How can the school board improve special education in Eagle County? That’s what a group of parents asked school board candidates at a debate and discussion Wednesday evening hosted by Family Connections, a nonprofit aimed at raising awareness of special education issues in Eagle County. School board candidates Margaret Olle, Jeanne McQueeney and Keith Thompson participated, along with several parents of special needs children, school district staff and board member Connie Kincaid-Strahan. “Special education makes up only 10 percent of the school population — it’s easily overlooked,” said parent Rosie Moreno. She asked the school board candidates, “What is the role of the school board in special education?”

Lower than expected voter turnout in Denver's all-mail election is rattling supporters of Mayor John Hickenlooper's campaign to increase property taxes to pay for a bevy of infrastructure projects. Boosters expressed concern early Thursday that only 8 percent of the nearly 210,000 ballots sent to voters had been returned. Turnout had climbed to 11.7 percent by the end of the day. Still, the "Better Denver" campaign planned to up the ante. "It's certainly affecting us," said pollster Floyd Ciruli, who is working closely with the Denver Public Library on the campaign. Money for libraries is on the ballot. "We just added 'Don't Delay, Vote Today' on our final piece of mailing just because we're now concerned about the level of turnout," he said.

Thousands of mail ballots are being returned to the Boulder County Clerk’s Office as undeliverable because those voters no longer live at the mailing addresses on county election records. Through Wednesday, the U.S. Postal Service had returned nearly 7,480 ballots to the county because state law doesn’t allow postal workers to forward mail ballots to the registered voters’ new addresses, according to County Clerk Hillary Hall. But Hall added on Thursday that the midweek tally of undeliverable ballots isn’t unusually high and may actually be lower than in some previous mail-ballot election years. The number might have been even higher, Hall said, but her office sent notices last month to about 9,000 people on the county’s active-voter list when those names also showed up on a Postal Service list of Boulder County residents who have changed addresses in the past year.

Phil Hernandez, a candidate for Boulder's City Council, recently celebrated a centennial right here in the Centennial State (that's Colorado, by the way). His grandparents entered the United States in August 1907, and while he said Thursday that the 100-year anniversary didn't turn into a huge celebration, he did say that it was significant in his mind. “I looked back and thought, ‘Wow, we did very well,' and I will say that Boulder has been very good to us,” said Hernandez. His maternal grandparents came to Boulder in the early 1930s, and Hernandez used his opportunities here to earn a degree from CU, which eventually led to a lengthy career in management with the State of Colorado and opportunities with both the City and County of Boulder.

Two camps have emerged in the upcoming municipal election. Two of the three mayoral candidates and several City Council candidates appear to be united on issues - though not as a slate or a party. The main friction has occurred between the Rita Bertolli camp and the Bob Murphy camp. Along with Linda Delay, Bertolli and Murphy seek the mayor's post. Four of five council candidates are listed on Bertolli's website as being "resident volunteer and support team" members: Charley Able, Roger Steers, Joe Sanchez and Newt Vaughan. Current council members Doug Anderson and Vicki Stack also are on the list. On Murphy's side of the ledger are council members Diana Allen, Debbie Koop, Sue King and Ed Peterson, and council candidates Karen Kellan and Cindy Baroway. According to campaign finance reports filed Oct. 11, Murphy, 56, owner of a Lakewood food brokerage firm, has raised $46,311 and has spent $38,000.

These days, residents of this Douglas County community would rather talk about becoming a city than how the Rockies will fare against the Boston Red Sox. At least that's what Maureen Shul found out Wednesday evening, when neighbors invited her to educate them on the nuts and bolts of incorporation. "I can't believe people want to talk about incorporation during the World Series," said Shul, who has been meeting with neighbors about the prospect of becoming Douglas County's fifth municipality.

Transparency in government, taxes and the question of whether big developers are too powerful in Lakewood are key issues in this fall's election. Several candidates are vying for five council seats and the mayor's office in this city of 140,000, the third largest in the metro area. Mayor Steve Burkholder is term-limited. Three candidates, including Ward II councilman Bob Murphy, are vying to take his place. Rita Bertolli, an administrator for Outward Bound School, wants the city to be much more transparent about how it spends money and makes decisions. "In Lakewood, we have big developers, poor policy and poor city management that are intentionally dividing neighborhoods," she said.

Bob Frie and Ken Fellman used to be political allies, endorsing each other in their races for Arvada mayor. Now Frie, the former mayor, wants his old job back and is challenging incumbent Fellman. The issue is money. Frie said the city is digging into reserves to maintain spending at unsustainable levels. He believes that Arvada will hit a financial brick wall in 2011. "He's been spending money like crazy," Frie said of Fellman. Fellman said Frie is working from a worst-case scenario compiled for the City Council last spring. The actual budget, adopted Monday, provides for an 8 percent cushion through 2011, Fellman said. "All this sky-is-falling stuff that he was saying . . . is basically not true," Fellman said. Fellman, 51, and Frie, 61, are both attorneys.

Residents of a planned development will decide whether to become Douglas County's fifth city. But the Nov. 6 ballot language may be the proposed incorporation's biggest challenge. The cumbersome, legalistic questions suggest a slate of new taxes for Castle Pines North, but that's not the case, said Maureen Shul, chairwoman of the incorporation effort. "These aren't new taxes. It's just a transition. Instead of taxes going to the county, they're going to the new city." An incorporation would lead to sales-tax moneys worth $1.2 million a year on 65 businesses along Castle Pines Parkway. At a community meeting Tuesday night, developers behind the proposed 240-acre Legae Ranch development endorsed incorporation. "Economically, that's huge," Shul said.

Two contested races in the Nov. 6 Roaring Fork School District board election have taken on a bit of a Carbondale flavor, as two seats on the five-member school board could potentially go to Carbondale residents. Debbie Bruell, a Carbondale parent and school volunteer, is challenging incumbent board member Brad Zeigel, also a parent of Carbondale school children and a local architect, for the District B seat. That director district takes in the majority of the town of Carbondale. Meanwhile, a quirk in the director district boundaries that extends the District C boundary from the south end of Glenwood Springs along the west side of the Roaring Fork River and up the Crystal River Valley could give Carbondale a bonus seat on the board.

The measures are known as 3A and 3B. The new facilities proposed by these issues will be a middle school and elementary school in Severance. The largest expansion will be at Grandview where 7,000 additional square feet will be added for four new classrooms. The addition will allow the school to have four full tracks in all grades. "We have reached our capacity class-wise," Grandview Principal Dave Grubbs said. "But it (overcrowding) maximizes our common areas, the library, the computer lab and the cafeteria. When we opened (in 2003), we had 55 to 65 kids at each grade level. Now we have 75-plus per grade level with 80 to 85 in the fourth grade." That means larger classes and a teacher-to-pupil ratio that isn't optimal. "Our teachers know that research supports smaller class sizes for success," Grubbs said. "When the class size is smaller, there's more one-on-one. The chance for success is better."

On Nov. 6, Summit County will elect four members to Summit school district’s School Board from the seven candidates vying for the open seats. The candidates recently answered a few questions about their qualifications and goals via e-mail, sticking to a 300-word limit for their answers.

The Bureau of Land Management received 29 protests for its controversial Nov. 8 quarterly oil and gas lease sale, which stands to open vast tracts of land that have seen little or no energy development in Middle Park, North Park and the Paradox Basin south of Grand Junction. The 187,000-acre lease sale is being protested by Grand County; the towns of Winter Park, Granby, Hot Sulphur Springs and Fraser; 11 private citizens and several environmental groups, BLM spokeswoman Jaime Gardner said. The protest deadline was Wednesday. Of the 172 parcels in the lease sale, only three are not being protested, Gardner said. What’s unusual about the Nov. 8 lease sale, she said, is a letter the Colorado Division of Wildlife sent the BLM on Wednesday urging the agency to remove more than 120,000 acres from the sale. The DOW objected because leasing would hurt sage grouse and other wildlife habitat. “We’re trying to figure out exactly what that means for us,” Gardner said.

Xcel Energy Inc., the owner of utilities in Denver and Minneapolis, said third-quarter profit rose 12 percent after rates increased in Colorado and warm weather stoked demand for power to cool homes. Net income climbed to $251.7 million, or 58 cents a share, from $224.5 million, or 53 cents, a year earlier. Revenue was little changed at $2.4 billion. Chief Executive Officer Richard Kelly has sold communications units and focused on winning rate increases for utilities that allow higher profit on investments such as power plants, lines and gas mains. Earnings were 57 cents a share, excluding the effect of a tax settlement.

Writer Daniel Glick was putting together a list of things people could do in their every day lives to fend off climate change, part of his contribution to an upcoming book, when it hit him: What was he going to do? "It sounds corny, but the light bulb went on for me that I lived in this pretty progressive place," Glick said. Economics motivated business consultant Jim Mason, and he reached the same conclusion as Glick: Solar power was the way to go. Both say the extra push to go solar came from federal tax credits and rebates offered by Colorado's largest utility after voters mandated that more renewable power be sold in the state. "We've got almost 90 kilowatts being generated by the sun largely because of these rebates," Glick said of the Nyland co-housing development he lives in east of Boulder. "It's government policy that actually works." Mason installed a solar system on his Boulder home more than a year ago and said he's been generating more energy than he uses ever since. He got a small check at the end of the year for electricity he contributed to the grid. "I can brag to my green neighbors in Boulder that I'm green, but it was dollars and cents," Mason said.

Worried about the winter cold? Concerned about rising fuel prices and seasonal heating costs? Moffat County Social Services is taking applications for its Low Income Energy Assistance Program beginning Nov. 1. The statewide program pays a partial amount for a home’s heating costs from Nov. 1 to April 30. People interested may apply anytime within those six months; however, the program will not cover heating bills after the end of April.

Xcel Energy was venting natural gas fumes Thursday afternoon and may continue today as part of a construction project to connect two high-pressure natural gas lines in the southeast metro area. The work took place near two intersections: Hampden Avenue and Yosemite Street, and Smith and Chambers roads. Xcel spokesman Tom Henley said nearby residents may smell a natural gas odor outside, which is likely because of the venting.

Colorado Senators joined forces Wednesday to introduce legislation that would increase the criminal penalty for people who violate campfire bans when there is a high risk of fire danger on public land. "The current fires in California are a tragic reminder of how devastating and unforgiving Mother Nature can be," Republican Sen. Wayne Allard said in a release. "Our prolonged drought as well as a bark beetle epidemic and a buildup of hazardous fuels puts Colorado in a precarious situation. I hope to prevent another season of loss by increasing the consequences for those who violate the law, jeopardizing both people and property by their reckless behavior." The Public Land Fire Regulations Enforcement Act calls for jail time and would set a minimum fine of $500 for people who violate fire bans on federal land managed by the Forest Service, the Bureau of Land Management, the National Park Service, and the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service. Democrat Ken Salazar said: "The tragic events in southern California have illustrated the harmful costs -both economic and human- associated with wildfires, particularly those caused by criminal activity. It is imperative that we take the necessary measures, many of which are included in this bill, to help prevent further wildfire-related damage to America’s lands and communities."

If a lawsuit aimed at preventing Aurora from using the Fryingpan-Arkansas Project to move water out of the Arkansas River basin prevails, Aurora plans to build more storage to physically move its water from the basin. The Lower Arkansas Valley Water Conservancy District filed a lawsuit Wednesday in Denver federal court, claiming the Bureau of Reclamation violated federal environmental law and ignored its own policies in issuing a 40-year contract for Aurora to store water at Lake Pueblo and exchange water to Twin Lakes in a paper trade.

The Lower Arkansas Valley Water Conservancy District filed suit Wednesday in federal court against the U.S. Bureau of Reclamation over a deal the government made with Aurora. The 40-year contract allows Aurora to store and purchase up to 10,000 acre-feet of water - about 5 percent of the city's water usage - from the Pueblo Reservoir each year. That water comes from the Arkansas River Basin. A previous deal between Aurora and the government was year-to-year.

A plan that will determine what uses are allowed on nearly 5,000 miles of roads and trails in the White River National Forest won’t be completed this year as planned, the U.S. Forest Service conceded this month. The agency says it needs additional time to do the travel management plan correctly, according to Forest Service documents released Thursday. Headquarters for the White River are in Glenwood Springs. The plan has major implications for everybody from hikers to off-road vehicle enthusiasts. It is a meticulous exam of every trail and road in the forest. It will determine where all-terrain vehicles, dirt bikes and other motorized uses are appropriate, and where hikers, equestrians and mountain bikers reign supreme.

A plan designed to reduce groundwater irrigation and avoid state regulation in the north-central San Luis Valley cleared another hurdle Wednesday. The board of directors for the Rio Grande Water Conservation District signed off on a water management plan for Subdistrict No. 1, following a public hearing earlier in the day. The approval leaves only judicial review by both the Alamosa County District Court and the Water Court for Division 3 before it can be implemented.

A Montrose man recently sentenced to federal prison for polluting streams with septic waste should focus attention on a big problem, says Randy See, manager of the West Montrose Sanitation District. See was at a meeting Thursday morning when Jennifer Youngberg of the Environmental Protection Agency talked about the 10-month sentence given last month to William Donald Walker, owner of Root Master, for violating the Clean Water Act. Walker collected septic waste and grease from residential septic tanks and area restaurants and dumping it in June and September 2003 into storm sewers that flowed into Dry Cedar Creek. Walker’s conviction is a first for this type of illegal dumping, See said. Companies that dump illegally don’t have to pay the overhead to have the waste treated, he added, and septic tanks have to be cleaned about every four years, at which time most people shop according to price. “Apparently we have septage haulers that are looking at ways to cut corners,” See said. “We hope that Montrose County will take a more active role and interest in the regulation and monitoring of an industry that could pose a danger to public health, harm local sewer systems and pollute local waterways.” Walker likely will serve at least nine months of the 10-month sentence, Youngberg said, all in a federal penitentiary.

A factory fire and an unstable recycling market have prompted Boulder officials to pull the plug on a pilot carpet-recycling program. A deal the city's Office of Environmental Affairs inked with the nonprofit Center for Resource Conservation in April allowed Boulder residents to bring in their old carpets to the center's recycling yards for free. The reusable carpets went to Englewood-based All Recycling, which had a deal with a Georgia carpet-maker that had agreed to accept carpets made of nylon 6 and nylon 66, said Elizabeth Vasatka, Boulder's environmental coordinator. But right around the time the deal was signed, a fire broke out at the Georgia factory, destroying the equipment designed to recycle the nylon 66 carpets. Vasatka said the city believed the plant would be repaired as the recycling program got under way. The city started collecting carpets — the majority of which were made of nylon 66. But the plant didn't get repaired, which left the city holding the shag.

In Colorado, SCHIP provides $2 in federal support for every $1 in state contributions to the program, which currently covers approximately 55,000 children and 1,300 pregnant women. That leaves an estimated 56,000 eligible children without insurance, according to state officials. Colorado lawmakers have set the qualifying income level at 205 percent of the federal poverty index - which means a family of four, living on less than $41,000 a year, may qualify for the federal insurance. Some states have set the qualifying limit much higher than Colorado and those are the families the White House and other opponents have identified as earning too much to justify federally paid health insurance. The legislation the House approved Thursday sets a maximum payment at 300 percent of the federal poverty index. The measure would not change Colorado's program, however, unless state lawmakers voted to raise the qualifying income to the higher federal limit.

When the plane carrying 56-year-old Broomfield resident Dan Smith touched down in San Diego, Calif., on Wednesday evening, the white smoke billowing from more than a dozen massive wildfires burning in the state was so dense that the sun was all but blotted out. "It was like being in a real thick cloud," said Smith, a volunteer with the American Red Cross who was asked to help with the relief efforts in southern California. Smith, a longtime Red Cross volunteer and member of the Boulder County Disaster Action Team, is among the estimated 4,000 Red Cross volunteers being dispatched to the area of the California wildfires, where more than 2,000 homes have burned to the ground this week.

Safety took a front seat earlier this month as law enforcement agencies from several counties buckled down on those not wearing seat belts. The Click It or Ticket enforcement wave resulted in 2,558 seat belt tickets being issued from Oct. 15-21 in 11 Colorado counties. The enforcement wave was spread across Adams, Arapahoe, Boulder, Denver, Douglas, El Paso, Jefferson, Larimer, Mesa, Pueblo and Weld counties, and involved a total of 36 law enforcement agencies. It was also reported, however, that a total of seven people not wearing seat belts, including a 17-year-old boy from Franktown, died during this time. A total of 50 people died last year who were not wearing seat belts. Most of the tickets were given to adults. Yet, 296 were for people ages 16-20, 111 were for children ages 6-15, 29 for booster seat infractions for children ages 4-5 and 64 for children under 4 years of age.

For uninsured people who depend on prescription drugs, the price of these life-sustaining medicines can be a killer. In response to increasing prices, Mesa County government, in cooperation with the National Association of Counties and Caremark, a pharmaceutical services company, may begin offering free discount prescription medicine cards to every county resident. The cards could save people an average of 20 percent on prescriptions. Unknown to county officials until asked by a Daily Sentinel reporter, Caremark is under investigation by the United States Department of Justice. The Department of Justice is investigating whether “Caremark knowingly avoided or decreased its obligation to reimburse Medicaid and other federal health insurance programs in dual coverage situations,” according to a May 2005 Justice Department news release. “That case is ongoing,” said Charles Miller, a spokesman for the Justice Department.

A course aimed at teaching parents how to train their children about the responsibilities and dangers of driving was unveiled Thursday by the Colorado State Patrol. The Alive at 25 Parent Program will kick off in mid-November in Denver and Colorado Springs, the State Patrol announced. The parent program will be an extension of Alive at 25, a State Patrol-sponsored program designed to teach young drivers. Last year, 139 people in the 15-25 age group were killed in car crashes on Colorado roads, Lt. Col. Anthony Padilla said.

The flu has arrived, sending victims to bed in 13 states, including Colorado, according to state and national health officials. One person in Boulder County was confirmed as having the flu last week but did not need to be hospitalized, said state health department spokesman Mark Salley. So far, influenza cases are "sporadic" and there have been no related deaths in the country, the federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention reported this week. No one, however, is dismissing the season yet. "It's still too early to tell, and flu is fluky," said Margaret Huffman, an influenza specialist with the Colorado Department of Public Health and Environment. While the 2003-04 flu season was Colorado's worst in recent years, Huffman said, by this time in 2003, only four states had reported sporadic flu activity - including Colorado.

Yes, going to the hospital can help you get a merit badge. Ask the Boy Scouts of Troop 66 in Longmont. On Saturday, 13 Scouts and four of the troop’s adults will head to Longmont United Hospital as “victims” in a countywide disaster exercise. And not just any exercise. Chuck Merritt, the safety manager at Boulder Community Hospital, said this may be the largest health-related exercise he’s seen yet. Five hospitals are taking part in the session, along with firefighters, emergency management workers and a lot of others, including about 135 volunteers playing victims. “The concept is to overwhelm the hospital’s capacity and see if they can still function normally,” said Lisa Widdekin, emergency preparedness planner for Boulder County Public Health. For the Scouts, this is a chance to do well by doing good. To advance in Scouting, the boys have to do community service, which includes taking part in exercises like this. But usually it’s on a modest scale, like a child-abduction exercise in which someone tries to get one of the Scouts out of a hospital without the staff noticing.

Researchers are looking for 100 local people who experience dizziness or a spinning sensation, hoping that a new exercise approach can help alleviate their vertigo. University of Colorado Hospital researchers and staffers will teach half of the participants a new exercise, which could reduce symptoms or at least the need for doctors' visits. The other half of the participants will be given an old exercise, so the two approaches can be compared.

The Colorado attorney general's office is investigating the Colorado Humane Society over allegations of mismanagement and improper dumping of euthanized animals. The society closed its veterinary clinic in Lakewood this week after donations dropped in the wake of allegations, and Arapahoe County has terminated a contract for the society to house stray animals. Bob Warren, the society's development director, blames the situation on "false information" supplied "by a cabal of terminated employees." "If we had done something wrong, I could get my head around it," Warren said. "We spend more on animal care than any other shelter in the state. We are the most efficient, most thorough and most successful in adopting animals. A bunch of former employees want to take the job of management." Warren said the organization is weighing litigation since "the damage is huge," with its $1 million-a-year budget running about $100,000 behind.

The Colorado Humane Society, under fire after reports that it improperly disposed of dead animals, vowed Thursday to stay open and continue serving metro- area communities. "We are not closing," said development director Bob Warren. "This is a storm. It will pass." The shelter came under scrutiny last month after a local television station aired reports of improper animal disposal and allegations of financial misconduct. Since then, it has had to lay off employees because donations have dropped off sharply.